DeathNote: Notes circa PreKira
by B. K. Siver
Summary: Valiant Dawson manages to obtain a DeathNote, but his Death God leaves things about it a mystery. When he does something horribly wrong, he runs off knowing the truth. Now he must go against his belief on the book to save a girl from her murderous father.
1. 1999: Friend

Jeez, Lord knows how long I've been gone! XD Last time I wrote on here was in my freshman year, and now I'm a junior…

(Man, it's been awhile… sorry about that, guys. And this isn't even remotely related to FFVII:AC at all!)

Well, let me explain, then. In my absence, I've managed to grow to love J-Rock music even more, and I went to this anime con, but I didn't get to shout for my love of the Naruto dub. sobs I was hoping to get jumped… lol!

Moving on, this lovely little DeathNote fanfiction was spawned while I was reading the first volume one night.

(Oh, the things two weeks of not talking to my friends can make me do!)

I figured I'd put it up here, since my friends wanna read it anyway.

Happy reading!

-- B. K. Siver

FYI: This part of the story takes place in 1999, in other words, circa pre-Kira.

* * *

"Vailant," the child heard his step-mother call, "Don't forget your lunch!"

Immediately, the thirteen-year-old boy ran back to his house. "Thanks, Pamela!" he gasped as he ran out the door.

"Man, I'm running late again!" he cursed to himself as he ran through his route towards school.

Valiant Dawson was a good student in school. Not exactly the smartest child, but not the dumbest. His grades were a lot higher than most boys his age.

That was the reason why he got picked on a lot. It was also the reason why he tried to get to school as late as possible without being bullied on the way to school.

Being thirteen, a pivotal age for boys and relationships, he had never had a girlfriend, nor had he had many friends in the first place. The other boys in his class teased him because of his book-smart mind while the girls shied away from him because he would always get awkward towards them.

This didn't mean that he was the loner kid in class. In fact, he was very sociable _while_ in class.

He had what he called his "Trump Card:" his step-mother.

Valiant's home consists of his father, his step-mother, and his fifteen-year-old brother. While his father, William Dawson, highly favored his athletic older son, Robert, his step-mother favored him. His dad would always say how Valiant doesn't get out enough to grow some muscle, unlike his brother, who was 

involved in most every sport imaginable. The criticism didn't come any easier while his brother continued wherever their dad left off.

Pamela, though, adored Valiant. She had been his mother since he was five, and once told him that he was destined to be someone significant because of his name: "brave."

As long as he had Pamela's adoration, Valiant could care less what others thought of him. He figured he should get along well if he had _someone's_ love.

"Hey, Dawson!" one of his classmates shouted, "Head's up!"

Before Valiant could take any defense, his head was hit hard with a red kickball, leaving a criss-cross pattern on the left side of his face. "Ow…" he sighed with grief.

"You're out!" the kid chuckled.

_As if I was playing anyway,_ the blonde-haired child thought angrily to himself.

His day would end the same way, too: Coming home late. If he happened to not get bullied on his way home from school, he would always come home later than the other kids because he would always find alternate routes to take.

However, today was different for him.

As if it were supposed to happen, a black notebook landed in his hands, and, as though he were expecting something special or extraordinary (it _did _fall out of the sky, after all), he opened it.

There was nothing extraordinary about it. No writing in it, no title in it, nothing.

The blonde had a _huge_ "WTF?" moment when he found it to simply be a normal, black notebook.

"Well, I've been needing a new notebook for school…" he mumbled to himself, "I guess I won't argue with this; It _is _free… " He couldn't help but wonder how the notebook fell into his hands, seeing as he wasn't near any buildings.

* * *

A week had passed since he had used the notebook for school. While it appeared to be normal, he couldn't help but feel odd about it. He had been thinking so much about it, his focus in school seemed to be slacking.

Just then, he heard a high-pitched whisper.

"Are you Valiant Dawson?" he heard.

When he found the owner of the voice, he gave a mix between a gasp and a scream. It belonged to a creature that seemed to resemble an armadillo, but it had horns, spikes, wings, and it was also constructed completely of bone.

His teacher didn't see the being. Instead, she scolded her student. "Mr. Dawson!" she shouted, "Is there a problem?"  
_  
How can she _not_ see that _thing_?! _he thought to himself in amazement.

"Don't worry," the creature assured, "Only you can see me."

Valiant tried to regain control of himself. "Um," was all he could reply a first, "No, everything is fine, ma'am."

"What was with the shouting, then?"

The blonde tried to think of something believable on the spot. "I… I saw a bee, ma'am. It scared me," he replied.

The whole class laughed at him in response.

"Well, Valiant," his teacher said, "Try to control your apiphobia, please. The windows are _closed_, after all."

He blushed with embarrassment. "Yes, ma'am," he replied obediently.

As his teacher continued with her lesson, Valiant began to have a conversation with the creature that had appeared before him by writing down on his notebook.

_What _are_ you? _he wrote.

"My name is Nelme!" the being cheered.

_That doesn't answer my question, Nelme. __**What are you?**_

"I'm… not from this world," it would only answer.

_Why are you here?_

"Well…" Nelme began, "I, um… kinda wanted a friend."

_What?!_

"I saw that you were getting picked on in this world," Nelme immediately began to explain, "And I get picked on ALL THE TIME in my world, so I figured we could be friends…"

Valiant thought to himself what kind of world that Nelme lived in in order to be teased as badly as he was. _What's the catch?_ he wrote.

The male Death God looked at the note. "Catch?" he asked.

_Fine print,_ was all Valiant wrote in response.

"Well…" Nelme sighed, "You have to keep the notebook. If you don't want to, though, then you can give it back…"

The Death God looked as though he were about to cry.

Valiant sighed quietly to himself. _No, I'll keep it. I need a friend anyway._

Nelme suddenly had a look that would express joy. "Really?!" he exclaimed happily, "Oh, Valiant, you won't regret this! I'll prove that Death Gods like me don't bring misfortune!"

The moment Nelme had said that, Valiant wondered just what the heck he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Is that the correct way to use "shy" in its past tense? I'm not sure…

The grammar check says that the way I'm using it is wrong, but when it corrects it, it sounds even funkier. Someone _please_ tell me if I'm right if the computer is telling me I'm wee-tah-did.

Author's Note: Nelme is called a "Death God" because this story takes place in the United States. Where, I'm still deciding, but I'm siding with CA because… well… I dunno, but it seems to fit well. I guess. If you have any suggestions, you can leave it in a message or a review, but either or will do, but that's only if you have to. Also, I won't beg and plead for a review, since, this IS DeathNote after all, and it'll be reviewed eventually because DN is quite popular nowadays.

Ugh… now I gotta go because my stomach hurts right now and Dorian wants me to lay down with him.

(I love that kid! )

Anyway, until the next chapter, whenever that may be(probably sometime tomorrow or the next day, whichever suits my fancy). Also, the title may change since I can't think of anything else right now.

Also, I didn't realize that this kinda sounds familiar with the pilot chapter of DeathNote. I didn't read it until AFTER I bought How to Read 13. Sorry about that, guys,. And my friend told me that in fanfictions like these, the notebook usually falls into someone's hands. Damn you, cliches! I promise this will be different enough. I hope. nervous laugh

Until then,

-- B. K. Siver


	2. 2001: Crime

Well, I feel a little better today! I'm now a little nervous because I have to get my blood tested tomorrow(or today, depending on when I post this), and I also have to get x-rayed to see if I'm getting scoliosis again. D: Well, scoliosis isn't so bad.

I don't get why fan fiction won't let me put asterisks on here… it's not like they're bad(or are they?) I guess if I have a question, I'll put the dashes instead.

So, enough of my ranting. Enjoy this chapter, then!

Oh, and before I forget: I don't own DeathNote. If I did, I'd be super creepy and witty to even come up with such an elaborate plot.

One more note: Nelme has the mind of a child, but compared to a shinigami rather than a human. So he is naturally more intelligent than most humans, but not as intelligent as the other shinigami(but maybe with the exception of Ryuk, XD)

Happy reading,

--B. K. Siver

Nelme had refused to explain the rules to Valiant about the DeathNote. His theory was "out of sight, out of mind," or in this case, vice versa. So far, his theory was correct in that fact; Valiant hadn't used his notebook as a diary or anything else that would require name writing. For the past two years that the teenager had possessed the notebook, he had only been using it for notes for school.

However, he never got how it never ran out of pages, even though he has used it more than enough over the past couple years. "Why doesn't it run out of pages, Nelme?" the now fifteen-year-old Valiant asked.

The Death God, flying alongside his friend, replied, "It's magical!" Nelme made a more than pathetic attempt to sound cheerful about it.

_That's all you _ever_ say whenever I ask about the notebook,_ Valiant thought to himself.

As long as he had owned it, Valiant didn't even know that it was even a DeathNote, or even the fact that that was what it was called. "How come you never answer my questions, Nelme?" the teenager asked.

"I'm afraid that…" Nelme began but then he shrugged it off, "Never mind. It isn't important, Valiant."

It was clear that over the two years that Nelme had been alongside Valiant, he grew to care a lot about him, which was why he wouldn't tell him about the proper uses of the DeathNote. He figured that if Valiant knew the true nature of the book's power, he would become corrupted and would eventually lose himself to power.

That was the last thing he wanted, especially since he knew that when the time came, he would have to write down his best and only friend's name, and he was sure that he was going to delay that as much as possible.

Valiant put on his wife-beater and a jogging outfit to get ready for his workout and his school gym. He was growing sick and tired of his dad's and brother's constant insults of his lankiness, so he decided to lift weights and try to develop muscle.

However, this didn't really help him at all. All of a sudden, his brother wanted to be a part of the local police, or at least some kind of law enforcement. Now that Robert was seventeen and getting football scholarships, his dad considered Valiant nothing more than a mere shadow compared to Robert.

"Going to work out, Valiant?" Pamela asked.

Valiant smiled at his step-mother, which was all he considered was his family. "Yeah," he smiled, "Maybe I'll be stronger than Robert, huh?" The blonde youth couldn't help but giggle at the thought.

Before he opened the front door to leave, Pamela called out to him. "Valiant," she began, "You don't have to do this for you're father's sake. Just because he thinks being a lawyer rather than a cop isn't as good for you, you don't have to develop anything."

Valiant laughed. "Don't worry, Pamela," he assured, "I'm not doing this for Dad! I'm doing this so I can laugh my way _all the way to the bank!_ I'll look good _and _make good money! I think it's a win-win situation for me."

His stepmother smiled. "All right, Valiant," she said, "just wanted to make sure."

Just before Valiant walked out the door, Pamela left a final remark. "Valiant! Robert is at the gym, too, so be careful," she warned.

Nelme followed him outside as he walked out and jogged to the school. "I think you're lucky that you have someone like Pamela in your life, Valiant," he said, "Even if she is your step mom."

Valiant nodded in response. As much as Valiant cared about Nelme, he wouldn't talk to him in public. Especially since there were usually people around in public.

Everyone always thought that it was weird that Valiant would always go to the school gym a half an hour before the school would close.

He did this because this was the only time in the day where he could talk to Nelme in private, since most people are gone within the last hour of the gym. Well, mostly everyone, since his brother liked to work out until it closed, too. However, he could care less what Robert thought of him talking to "himself."

"Wow, Valiant!" Nelme awed as Valiant took off his old wife-beater and put on a new one, "Your muscles have really developed since the beginning of the year! Your dad shouldn't cry about how your scrawny now!"

The blonde managed to laugh a little at his friend's statement. "Yeah," he sighed sadly, "But he still does."

Finally, he walked to the locker room to get ready to go home. When he got to his locker, he attempted to open it, only for his efforts to be in vain. "What the hell?" he thought aloud, "My locker never does this."

"Maybe it's jammed," the armadillo Death God suggested, "Want me to check?"

Valiant kept trying to open it. "No, I can do it," he grunted.

Suddenly, when he opened it, sludge immediately fell on him, covering him in both the awful smell and the sticky substance.

He was less than happy about it.

"That damn bastard!" he yelled as he grabbed his black notebook, "I can't believe he would do this!"

Nelme immediately noticed what he was doing. "Valiant, calm down, please," he pleaded, "You'll end up doing something that you'll regret."

"I just need to write down all of my anger, Nelme," the blonde retorted.

Before Nelme could do anything about it, he saw that Valiant had already begun to write down what seemed like a journal entry.

_Man, I can't believe he would do this to me! Even for the All-American Robert Dawson, this is very low. He's not even at the gym right now so I can yell at him! Someday, he'll get it and I hope that day comes soon. Poisoning sounds like a good way for him to die..._

After he was done writing, he felt satisfied. He thought it was a healthy way to release his anger. Nelme, however, saw it completely different. The Death God immediately knew what would follow once he got home. "I…" Nelme began, "I-- Can we go?"

Valiant wasn't sure why Nelme was so disappointed in him, but he just listened and jogged home, as though nothing were wrong.

* * *

OK, so right now, I'm pretty sure that that's a legal way to use a DeathNote. It's the next chapter that I'm worried about.  
(I don't even have "How to Read 13" anymore! It was a gift for my cousin... damn)

Well, anyway... I'm tired right now, so I'm gonna try to go mimis real quick and you can check up on this! :3

--B. K. Siver


	3. 2001: Punishment

So has anyone else heard about what happened with Criss Angel today? That was pretty weird.  
(Well, it happened last night)  
I mean, when my uncle told me something went wrong with the stunt, I was think to myself, "Gee, I hope he didn't die… he's pretty good looking for however old he is…" But, he lived, although it sounds like a hoax trick he did.

Anyway, in this chapter, I'm not sure if Valiant is using the DeathNote right. If he isn't… D: I'd be too lazy to fix it anyway, lol!

Random Note: You know what? That "Reader Traffic" tool is really nifty! :D I mean, I've gotten people from Saudi Arabia and Belgium reading this(or my stories, anyway)! That is SO COOL! I know that sounds like something that a n00b would say, but… that's such an awesome thing! Wow, technology these days is _really_ turning out to be something else! I have a 3:1 ratio of hits to visitors, which isn't bad, I think.

OK, I'm sure people now are sick and tired of my ranting, so I'm gonna let you all go, now.

Happy reading! :3

--B. K. Siver

* * *

It was only a fifteen minute jog from his school to his house, and since he was only there for a little over an hour, he was surprised to find that there were more than enough cops at his house.

Valiant looked at Nelme to see his reaction, but the Death God only looked down with disappointment.

"Nelme!" Valiant asked out loud, "Is this why you were quiet?! What the hell's going on?!"

The Death God didn't say anything in response.

"Tell me, dammit!"

Before he could reply to the demand, Valiant saw what looked like a -hospital bed- that the ambulance would use to carry the injured to the emergency room. However, it was different from what he'd seen before.

Instead of carrying an injured body, it carried a dead one.

It was Robert.

Shocked at the sight, Valiant fell to his knees and began shaking uncontrollably. Never in his life had he seen a dead body, and he was too young to really remember what his real mother looked like at her funeral.

As quickly as the police arrived, they were gone. They had left his now family of three alone to mourn.

"Valiant!" Pamela cried, "Thank goodness you're here!" She embraced him as he began crying.

"What happened?" Valiant whispered.

Just then, his dad approached him. "Your brother's dead…" his dad wept.

That was the first time Valiant had seen his prick of a father cry since his mom died. He couldn't imagine how his dad would live now that his favorite son is dead and gone.

The teenager got up and began to leave the scene. "I…" he began, "I need to go for a walk."

His parents watched him leave, not even attempting to call him back.

Minutes later, he was at a park by himself with Nelme by his side. "Tell me what happened, Nelme," the blonde demanded, "I know you know, dammit!"

His friend grabbed the notebook. "Look at your entry!"

Valiant did as he was told.

_Man, I can't believe he would do this to me! Even for the All-American Robert Dawson, this is very low. He's not even at the gym right now so I can yell at him! Someday, he'll get it and I hope that day comes soon. Poisoning sounds like a good way for him to die..._

"I don't get what's wrong!" asked Valiant.

Nelme yelled at him for the first time. "Look closer! You'll see!"

The young man looked at his entry again.

_Man, I can't believe he would do this to me! Even for the All-American Robert Dawson, this is very low. He's not even at the gym right now so I can yell at him! Someday, he'll get it and I hope that day comes soon. Poisoning sounds like a good way for him to die..._

He began thinking to himself: _I wrote down my brother's name. Now he's dead… _Valiant looked at the words closer.

_Man, I can't believe he would do this to me! Even for the All-American __**Robert Dawson**__, this is very low. He's not even at the gym right now so I can yell at him! Someday, he'll get it and I hope that day comes soon. __**Poisoning**__ sounds like a good way for him to __**die**__..._

"You're a smart kid, Valiant," Nelme said, "You should figure this out."

Valiant threw the notebook to the ground. "There's no damn way that Robert died like how I wrote in here!" he stated, "That's impossible!"

Nelme picked it up. "Did you forget, Valiant?" he asked, "I'm a God of Death!"

"So you're telling me this is what you use to kill people with when it's their turn to die?"

"Not exactly… It's more of a survival tool."

Valiant grew infuriated. "What the hell kind of notebook is this, Nelme?!"

Nelme mumbled, "A DeathNote…"

"A _what_?!"

"It's a DeathNote! The person whose name is written in that notebook shall die!" Nelme confessed. "That's the first and most important rule!"

Valiant was shocked at what he heard and dropped the DeathNote. "I… killed my brother… I'm a murderer…" the blonde realized, "Why didn't you tell me this?!"

Immediately, Nelme replied, "I thought that if I told you, you'd end up using it like a psycho! So I kept it secret!"

"I could've avoided this, though!"

"I tried stopping you, but you didn't listen!" Nelme yelled back to him. He felt terrible yelling at his only friend; This was their first argument they'd ever had. "If you wanna give it up, you can," Nelme finally said, "I'll have no choice but to take it back."

Valiant thought about his options. "What would happen to you, then?" he asked.

"Nothing," the Death God replied, "You'd just forget the memories of ever having the DeathNote… and me…"

As soon as Nelme had said that, Valiant replied, "No."

The Death God was surprised. "What?"

"I've already lost two members of my family," Valiant explained, "I don't want to lose you, too."

Nelme was shocked that a human had considered him "part of the family." "You want to _keep_ it, then?"

The teenager sighed, "I'll just have to refrain from using it, that's all."

As he and Nelme walked home, Valiant remembered how he had felt when he first accepted Nelme's friendship two years ago.

To him, this night felt the same way. He thought the same thing, too: What the hell had he gotten himself into?

* * *

OK, so I lied ; I meant the next chapter. I hope he's been using it right. Well, I have to go, but please tell me if there are any improvements I need to work on :) I like being critiqued.

-- I'm not sure what those hospital beds thingies are really called, even though my mom's a nurse ;

Have a nice day!

--B. K. Siver


	4. 2001: Abandonment

No reviews yet. Oh well, might as well finish what I started, right? Besides, I made a deal with my friend: If I finish this fanfic, she'll finish the one she's been writing for me since a million months ago(well, probably two, but I'm waiting!). She never thought that Gackt and Juka would be _that_ important. lol!

So, now I have a purpose as to why I should finish this. Yay!

Happy reading,

–B. K. Siver

* * *

The events prior to Valiant's walk made the house have an ominous feel to it. His dad was silently weeping on the couch while his step-mother was washing the dishes.

"Valiant," Nelme began as they walked up the stairs, "What would happen if your dad found out about what you did?"

The blonde walked into his room and closed his door. "I'm not sure he'd even believe me," Valiant finally said, "The part about the notebook, anyway." _When the police finds out that this is a homicide..._ Valiant didn't even want to finish his thought.

Just then, his father knocked on the door. "I want to speak to you, Valiant," his dad said sternly.

_Shit!_ Valiant thought with terror, though he did as he was told.

"Yes, Dad?" he asked when he opened the door.

"The police called."

Valiant was going to do his best to play it off. "What'd they say?"

His father sighed with grief. "He died of arsenic poisoning."

"How'd he die of arsenic poisoning?!"

Before his dad could say anything, he reached for his back pocket, and pulled out something that Valiant had never seen before: A gun, but it was pointed at him.

He had jokingly thought that his dad would do this to him someday, but that's as far as he's ever thought about it.

"The wrong kid died!" his dad yelled, "I know you killed him!"

At that point, Valiant figured that there wasn't any point in denying it, but he wasn't ready to admit to it either. "D-Dad," he stuttered, "You don't want to do this."

"I do, too!" he replied as he pointed the gun to Valiant's head.

Behind him, Valiant could hear his bag fall off his bed, but he knew it was Nelme. "Dad," he tried to say as calm as he could, "Let me clean up that mess, please." If his father were to notice the DeathNote, and Nelme, he's not sure what would happen. Not to mention Valiant could hear Nelme rummaging through mess he made.

"No," his father replied with the gun still aimed.

At that moment, Valiant began talking to Nelme out loud. "Don't do it, Nelme!" he shouted, "Don't write down my dad's name, please..."

"He's gonna kill you, Valiant!" Nelme replied.

"I don't care! Don't do it!" Valiant replied, "I can handle this!"

His dad was puzzled as to who he was talking to. "Who the hell are you talking to?" he demanded.

Valiant smirked. "My best friend," he replied calmly.

"I knew you were a crazy kid," his dad said, "That's why I know you killed Robert!"

Before his dad could pull the trigger, Pamela screamed from across the hall. "Get down, Valiant!" she ordered.

Not even hesitating to think about the order, Valiant did as he was told and crouched down to the floor as he watched Pamela tackle his father out of the way.

Pamela began to cry. "Leave Valiant alone, William!" she cried. "I did it! Valiant had nothing to do with it!" Tears began to fall down her cheeks, "I was so irritated with how you and Robert were always treating Valiant like crap–"

Before she could finish her statement, William shot her in the shoulder.

_She hated Robert more than I did?!_ Valiant thought to himself, _I'm sorry, Pamela... I got you involved..._

Valiant was sure that his dad was on a mission to kill Pamela and forgot about him, so he decided it was safe enough to get up.

"DeathNote, DeathNote, DeathNote," he muttered to himself as he searched his room. "Found it!" he exclaimed happily as he tore out a sheet.

He walked down the hall as quietly as he could while he watched his dad slowly kill Pamela. Before his dad could shoot her again, Valiant threw the now crumpled up piece of paper. "Dad!" Valiant began, "If you kill her, then you'll be a murderer, too!"

"I don't care!" his dad retorted as he aimed the gun to Valiant again, "You'll die with her, then! It's because of _you_ she did this!"

Before William could shoot Valiant, Nelme flew in front of Valiant. "If you kill Valiant," Nelme growled, "Then I'll make sure that you die, too, William Dawson."

Valiant's dad was spooked by the sight of Nelme. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!" he shouted in terror.

"I'm your son's best friend," Nelme replied as he flew towards him, "And don't bother shooting me, it's pointless."

William looked at his son, then at Pamela, then the gun. In a whole day, his whole world came crashing down and he had become more than a monster. "Shooting you is pointless," William said to Valiant, "Isn't it?"

Before anything else could be said, William's mind was scattered across the floor.

As though it were nothing, Valiant ran over to Pamela. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

She mumbled to herself, "I'm a bad person..."

"You were trying to protect me, Pamela, I know that," he insisted, "You're not a bad person."

"I want to die" she said, "I hurt all over.. .please, kill me, God."

Valiant began to cry, "I can't lose you, too!"

Pamela smiled at her step-son. "You're a good child, Valiant," she whispered, "You'll live a happy life... much better than this one..."

The fifteen-year-old placed her gently against the wall and ran to his room and grabbed his DeathNote.

_Pamela Dawson_, he began to write with tears streaming down his cheeks, _Peaceful_. Immediately after writing his entry, Valiant ran to Pamela and held her hand.

"Please, stay with me, Valiant..." she barely managed to say, "Don't leave me..." Her words were beginning to mix with each other.

"I won't," Valiant assured her, "I won't leave you here, Mom."

At that moment, Pamela grinned at what Valiant had just called her, and began her endless sleep.

* * *

"I'm glad nothing happened to you, Valiant," Nelme said, "That's nice how your dad shot himself. Well, it's not nice... but at least you weren't hurt." They were both at the park they were at only an hour earlier. "I know that you're sad, but the police won't have any reason to suspect you, so why run away?"

Rather than say anything, Valiant handed Nelme the notebook. "Are you giving it up?" Nelme asked sadly, but he didn't get a response. Instead, he opened the notebook and read all of the entries.

_Man, I can't believe he would do this to me! Even for the All-American Robert Dawson, this is very low. He's not even at the gym right now so I can yell at him! Someday, he'll get it and I hope that day comes soon. Poisoning sounds like a good way for him to die..._

_William Dawson, suicide_

_Pamela Dawson, peacefully_

"Your dad shot himself because you wrote it?!" Nelme asked with surprise in his tone. "Were you afraid he'd kill Pamela?"

Valiant nodded, but didn't look at the Death God.

"You don't have to keep it, if you don't want to," Nelme told the blonde.

He shook his head, though. Now all Valiant had in this world was Nelme, and he didn't want to lose him. Nelme was nothing less than family, and now he's the only one that he has left.

Valiant got up from the park bench. "Let's get out of here, Nelme. By now, the cops are probably looking for me," he said, "Either I'm a missing person or a wanted man. I don't want to be either."

"Where will we go?"

"I don't know," the blonde replied, "But nowhere near here."

* * *

Well, I have to go for my walk now! TTFN!

– B. K. Siver


	5. 2004: Renewal

Yay! My first review! Thank you so much, The Materialist!

So, on the news today, there was a creature found washed up the shore in New York. I don't know what the heck it is, but it looks like a bloated, shell-less sea-turtle. It also looks otherworldly, too.

I know that's a bit random, but… I just wanted to throw it out there. J

Happy reading,

--B. K. Siver

* * *

Three years had passed since the night Valiant lost everyone in his family. He fled his state via Greyhound bus and started a new life.

He managed to register for a job and move into an apartment and even register into a new school. Now that he was eighteen, he was close to graduating high school with a completely new identity.

"Peters!" his teacher scolded from the front of the classroom, "Graduation is nearing and you're spacing out? I know you're a bright kid, but there's no such thing as 'studying too much.'"

Immediately, Valiant fell out of his trance. "Sorry, Mr. Conic," he apologized, but then asked, "Adam? May I go to the bathroom?"

His teacher looked at the now brunette. "Go on, then," he replied. "Oh, and Robert?' he asked, "Don't call me by my first name like that. No one else does."

Valiant would always go to the bathroom in the middle of class so he could talk to Nelme about certain issues. His current appearance was one of those issues.

"I can't believe how much I've changed," Valiant said to his reflection.

Nelme replied, "You did it so you wouldn't be recognizable, right?"

The young man couldn't help but be disgusted with his appearance. "I dyed my hair and even changed my name. There are no remnants of Valiant Dawson anymore, just traces of the mysterious 'Robert Peters.'"

"The only reason you're getting worked up over this is because it's the three-year anniversary today, isn't it?"

Valiant pounded the sink in frustration. "It's disgusting how I can't even visit their graves!"

Just then, one of Valiant's classmate's walked into the bathroom. "See whose graves, Robert?" he asked.

_Damn, I have to be more careful,_ Valiant scolded himself. "My parents' grave," he half-lied, "I wish I could see it."

"Oh…" was all his classmate could say.

Before another moment of awkward silence could continue, Valiant walked out of the bathroom and went back to English class. "You don't look like a Robert," Nelme finally said, "Couldn't you at least pick a better alias?"

Valiant couldn't help but laugh at what his best friend said. "It was definitely a unique name," he replied.

* * *

Before his English class was over, Mr. Conic handed out what looked like forms that would be talking about the graduation.

They were fliers.

"My daughter, Ashely, has gone missing," Mr. Conic explained, "I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could give me any information you have on her. If you even think you've seen her, please let me know."

Valiant's teacher usually got a lot of sympathy not only from his fellow teachers, but amongst his students as well. Last year, his wife died of a mysterious and sudden heart attack, which left him to raise his thirteen-year-old daughter by himself.

The young man thought it was strange that Adam's wife would die so suddenly, especially since she looked relatively healthy in the picture that was on his teacher's desk. She was a pretty and petite blonde, so her health must have been decent, he figured.

The brunette also had a suspicion that his teacher owned a DeathNote. After much whining, Valiant was able to weasel out the rules of the DeathNote from Nelme. One of them was that if the cause of death isn't specified within the forty-second timeframe, the victim would die of a simple heart attack, no matter how healthy they are.

It was the perfect cover on his teacher's part: He was a handsome light-brown haired man that had a almost menacingly sweet smile that would charm most girls' hearts.

What Valiant _couldn't_ figure out was _why _his teacher would do something like that out of nowhere.

"I think it's weird that you've got a heavy suspicion that your teacher has a DeathNote like you," Nelme told Valiant when they got to the apartment.

Valiant ignored the comment, "I can't think of a motif, though. Like, _why _he would do such a thing…"

"Maybe you're being paranoid," Nelme suggested as Valiant turned on the TV. "But Kira, though," Nelme added, "That's another story."

Lately, in the news, there had been so much excitement over this person that they called "Kira." Because of the way the victims were dying, Valiant was one-hundred percent sure that Kira had a DeathNote like he did.

"I'm gonna catch him someday," Valiant stated, "Well... at least help in catching him. He's using the DeathNote in a completely immoral way."

Nelme laughed, "There's a _right_ way?"

Before Valiant could answer, he heard someone knock at his door. To put it more accurately, someone was _banging_ the door.

"Calm down," he shouted, "I'm coming!"

When he answered, the door, he was surprised to see a young girl. She was small and petite and had blonde hair with blue eyes. She was holding a black notebook that resembled his DeathNote, but the cover for her's had drawings on it. "Can I help you?" Valiant asked. For some reason, she looked familiar.

She was shaking as much as her voice. "My father wants to kill me!" she cried, "I can't stay home anymore! Hide me here, please!"

That was when it clicked to Valiant: She was his teacher's missing daughter, Ashely.

* * *

I'm not sure when Light began killing, so I'm not sure if that's accurate.

--B. K. Siver


	6. 2004: Déjà vu

I love that anime "The Wallfower!" It's so damn cute! Waaaay off from the tree when compared to DeathNote, but, I like to have variety. :3

I wanna buy some manga today… but I'm not sure which one to get… "The Wallflower" vol. 2 or "In the End," which looks pretty… hm… or I can do the unexpected and buy volumes 2 and 3 of DeathNote so I could have 1-4.

-thinks-

Nah!

Happy reading,

--B. K. Siver

* * *

"Of all people's houses," Valiant began, "Why'd you have to come to _mine_?!"

Ashely walked into his apartment without being invited. "You live alone, right, Robert?" she asked, "Parents wouldn't let me hide from my dad. They'd think I'm crazy!"

"Well… you kinda are," Valiant told her bluntly, "You found out where I lived and you know my name. I've never seen you before in my life."

"All I did was hack into my dad's school computer one day and it had your address in it," she explained, "All I did was MapQuest it."

Valiant was puzzled. "O…k…" he managed to say, "How did you guess that I lived alone based on that?"

The young blonde clutched her black notebook. "I heard my dad talking to himself the other night," she said, "He said that you lived alone, which meant no one cared about you. That's what he thought."

_What an ass,_ Valiant immediately thought of his teacher.

"He also said you were a threat."

"A threat?" he asked, "I'm a good kid in class!"

"That's not what he meant," she said as she handed Valiant the notebook, "He meant that he could tell that you have a DeathNote, like him."

The young brunette opened the notebook and saw his teacher's wife's name written on the first page. He was right about his teacher owning a DeathNote, but wasn't sure how he could tell that he owned a DeathNote, too.

However, Valiant decided to ignore that for the moment. "What does your dad plan on doing with the DeathNote?" he asked Ashely.

Ashely hesitated to speak at first, but managed to choke it out. "He wants to kill the entire family," she almost whispered.

Valiant was shocked. Even though he had done the same thing only three years earlier, it was unintentional and would have done anything to prevent it from happening to someone else, but his teacher _wanted _to kill them. "Why?" he finally asked.

"My grandfather is the owner of the multi-million dollar Conic Industries," she began.

"Ok."

"And my dad is the youngest out of seven children…"

"So you're saying that you're dad wants the money all for himself and is gonna get rid of everyone in his way," Valiant stated," And he's gonna do that by using his DeathNote."

Ashely took her notebook again. "Uh," she stuttered, "I kinda stole it so he couldn't use it. Navi told me that my dad has four-hundred ninety days to retrieve it before it comes to my ownership, so I have to keep it hidden until then."

"Who's Navi?" Valiant asked.

Nelme answered Valiant's question. "She's a violent Death God, and not the brightest, either… she'll only listen as she sees fit."

Ashely smiled, "She helped me escape and told me about that rule." She then dumped out the contents of her backpack.

Valiant wasn't surprised to see make-up, clothes, and other essentials. She was a girl, after all. However, as soon as he saw money fall out, he was surprised- no, shocked would be more accurate.

"HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU STEAL?!" Valiant shouted.

The young girl smiled, "Only fifty grand! And it's in my grandpa's name, so no one will care if fifty thousand dollars went missing!"

"What…" Valiant tried to say. This was the most money he's seen in his life, and probably more than he's ever made, too. "What was the point of that?" he finally asked.

She smiled again, "This is for letting me stay here! Please?"

Nelme spoke to Valiant. "It'll be good for you! You haven't had a friend over in forever, Valiant!" he cheered, "And it's a _girl_!"

The young man sighed. "Fine," he told her, "but you need to stay out of sight and never go out until your missing status is waved off or something, OK?"

So far, in Valiant's ownership of the DeathNote, he had been asking himself the same question constantly.

_What the hell have I gotten myself into?_ he asked himself shamefully.

* * *

I know it's a lot of talk and no action and probably a considerable amount shorter, but please bare with me. -smiles-

--B. K. Siver


	7. 2004: News

I'm sorry that I haven't updated in awhile! I just started school yesterday, so College Algebra has been giving me homework already, as has chemistry. D:

On the up side, I really enjoy Beginning Band! I'm excited to learn a new instrument instead of the violin, though I miss it.

Anyway, I'm done with my ranting.

Happy reading,

-- B. K. Siver

* * *

Over the next few days, Mr. Conic hadn't shown up to school.

_Odd,_ Valiant thought, _You would think that he'd have done something about me by now…_

As if on cue, the school principal came into the classroom. "Due to personal issues that Mr. Conic has suffered, he will not be returning to teach at this school anymore," she told the class coldly, as if she could care less that he was gone.

Valiant began to put two and two together: His teacher left because his daughter is missing and so is his DeathNote. _That's perfect!_ Valiant told himself happily.

That is, until he thought about the other possibilities.

_She said personal _issues_, not _issue_… shit!_ "Ma'am," Valiant said as he stood up, "May I leave the school? An emergency popped up."

She granted him permission to leave and he immediately drove to his house as fast as he legally could. "Valiant, what's wrong?" Nelme asked him.

"If I had a house phone, I would have called her," Valiant spoke to himself, seemingly ignoring the Death God.

"Called her for what?"

Valiant hit a red light and looked at Nelme. "I think her family is still dying," he said.

* * *

He burst the door open to his apartment. "Ashley! Are you alright?!" he rushed out of his mouth.

"I'm… fine…" she said, surprised at what her care-taker just did. "What was that about?"

Valiant sighed with relief. "Nothing…" he said.

"Tell me, Valiant," she demanded. Immediately after calling him by his true name, she covered her mouth.

Nelme looked at Valiant with surprise. "She knows your name!" he exclaimed.

"How the hell do you my name?" he demanded of her.

She smiled nervously. "Um…" she muttered and thought. "Google is amazing! You'll be surprised with what you find!"

"Google?"

"I know you've had a rough past…"

"How did you get on the internet?!"

She immediately replied, "I went to the library! Besides, I disguised myself like you, so it was all good."

The young man put that aside. "Fine," he told her, "I'll tell you: I think that you're family is still dying…"

She frowned. "I know, I saw it on the CNN website… my aunt and her family died in a plane crash…" she nearly began to cry. She attempted to hold back her tears as Valiant hugged her. "I don't know how he could be killing them still…" she cried.

"Hold on," Valiant tried to smile to her, "I have something special for you."

He walked over to his backpack, which he accidentally left by the front door, and brought out his DeathNote and handed it to the blonde girl. "Touch it," he ordered her.

When she did as she was told, she finally was able to see Nelme. "My friend may be able to explain it, Ashely," he told her as happily as he could, "This is Nelme."

Rather than introduce herself formally, she got straight to the point. "Do you know how my dad is killing my family?" she didn't hesitate to ask.

"Well," the young Death God began, "I think he tore out a page of the notebook."

The two humans were puzzled. "That works?" they both asked simultaneously.

"Uh-huh!" Nelme replied, "I would guess that he did that, because the chance that he got another DeathNote is pretty much zip to none."

Valiant came to his conclusion. "He must've taken precautions, in case you decided to take the notebook," he pointed to Ashely, "So he could go on with his plans."

The young girl sighed to herself. "I'm not that smart to come up with a plan like that," she said sadly.

Valiant lifted her head so she could see him. "You were smart enough to take the notebook," he smiled to her, "Besides, your first priority was to protect your family. I think that's pretty smart." When the blonde smiled in response, Valiant mumbled, "It was a lot smarter than what I did to my family…

"Don't worry," he continued, hoping Ashely had ignored it, "I'll think of something to make sure as much as your family lives, OK?"

The young girl wiped her tears off her face as Valiant handed her a tissue and smiled. At that moment, she was thankful that she had decided to stay with him and not her dad.

* * *

Well, I don't own Google, and I sure as hell don't own CNN. XD

There's a big storm going on outside, so the power may go out. I'm just happy that I got this posted with out any trouble with the electricity!

-- B. K. Siver


	8. 2004: Abduction

Wow! School has been busy! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in forever. As a token of my apologies, I will have a link to the picture of Nelme I drew! :D Does that make up for anything?

--B. K. Siver

* * *

"In other news, more members of the famous Conic family have tragically died today in a horrible car accident," the female news anchor announced."

_More..._ was all Valiant could think of, _How far will this man go?_ "Ashely, I think we should change the channel now..."

The now black-haired girl put the remote under her thighs. "No! I _won't_!" she screamed. "Those were the last members..." she cried, "Next is my grandpa..."

The brunette couldn't help but blame himself for what has happened to her family. He can't think of a better plan to save her family(or what's left of it) other than to use her as bait, but if Ashely were to die... Valiant was sure that he didn't want to think about that kind of possibility; It was too horrible to imagine.

Finally, Nelme asked, "I see that he's really greedy and wants to kill the whole Conic family, but why wait to kill Ashely? If I were him, I would have used _my _DeathNote already."

"Also," the news anchor continued, "Vincent Conic, the head of Conic Industries, has stopped the search of his 3-month missing granddaughter, Ashely Conic. The police concluded that the girl is now dead."

Ashely sulked at what she just watched, feeling slightly awkward, "My dad's weird like that, I guess..."

Finally, to Valiant, it clicked.

"He knows," he said quietly, in almost a child-like whisper.

Nelme was worried, "Knows what?"

Valiant turned to Nelme. "He knows that Ashely is _here!" _he exclaimed, "He's trying to lure me out!"Before anything else could be said, the young man quickly ran to his bedroom.

Ashely looked as though she was going to ask Nelme something, but he seemed to answer her question without her opening her mouth. "It seems Valiant is trying to come up with a strategy now. He doesn't want to be disturbed."

* * *

Hours later, Valiant still hadn't appeared out of his room, so Ashely and Nelme had found their form of entertainment by playing some card games.

"I hope Valiant will be OK," Ashely said, "I don't know what'd I'd do if he--"

Nelme cut the young girl off, "He'll be fine! He's got a Death God on his side!"

She immediately argued, "I've been making him worry so much... I feel bad that I made it _his _responsibility to get rid of my dad."

The small but terrifying Death God immediately put his cards down, showing a royal flush. "You really like Valiant, don't you, Ashely?" Nelme asked her.

The teenager blushed ever so slightly. "He's taking such good care of me, Nelme! It's more like gratitude!" she immediately told the Death God.

As Nelme was laughing at what his friend said, someone knocked on the door.

"I'm coming!" Ashely yelled as she went to answer the door.

She was shocked to find who it was: Her father.

"D-D-Dad!" she stuttered.

All the ex-teacher had was a smirk on his face, and forced himself in the house and began grabbing his daughter's wrists.

"Rob–!" was all the girl could say before her father's large hand muffled her cries for help.

No avail, though, as Valiant immediately ran out of his room and towards Adam Conic. "What are you going to do to her?!" he shouted.

Rather than answer, the older man pulled out what looked like to Valiant a stun gun.

Before the younger man could dodge the fire, he was stunned with the fierce amount of electricity, and immediately fell to the ground before he could chase after his teacher.

"You..." he was struggling to say, "You bastard! If _anything_ happens to her, even a scratch, I'll make sure you're dead! I'll make sure you die myself!"

The older brunette looked at his old student while holding his daughter's fainted body, and gave him the creepiest grin Valiant had ever seen in his life. "She's my daughter, isn't she Valiant?" he asked him playfully, "Shouldn't it be _me_ taking care of her?" Before anything else could be said, the man quickly walked off to his car and drove off.

As soon as Valiant wasn't able to hear the car anymore, he could get up without any trouble. _Figures_ _that that's when I'd be OK to get up_, the young man thought.

"Nelme, I know you know the answer to what I'm about to ask," Valiant told Nelme, "How did _that man_," he gritted his teeth as he said it, "Know my _real name?_"

* * *

I'm glad I started writing this again :)


End file.
